On its face, “Act of Valor” is essentially a live-action, war-themed video game strung loosely together by an implausible narrative that moves the player — in this case, the audience — to increasingly difficult levels of engagement. Our avatars are stiffly acted members of an elite Navy SEAL team, essentially blank slates for the audience members to insert themselves into the firearm-heavy action. Out of context, it’s a B-grade celebration of testosterone, Jerry Bruckheimer-style.

But context is everything when it comes to “Act of Valor.” These square-jawed warrior heroes aren’t just straight-to-DVD-quality actors; they’re active-duty Navy SEALs who opted to step outside the SEALs’ “silent warrior” tradition by participating in this Navy-sanctioned film that incorporates footage shot during actual training missions, some with live fire.

In a short featurette before the fictional narrative begins, directors Mike “Mouse” McCoy and Scott Waugh explain their decision to use actual SEALs, asserting that only the men who live the lives where “being dangerous is sacred” could deliver the authenticity they were seeking for a film that started out as a recruitment video but eventually ballooned into a $12 million dramatic feature that navigates the uncomfortable line between fiction, documentary and, yes, some good old-fashioned wartime propaganda.

The story follows a Coronado-based SEAL team dispatched to rescue a female CIA operative (Roselyn Sanchez) kidnapped by drug lords, an operation that points them to an international terror plot to smuggle bombs across the U.S.-Mexico border and detonate them in shopping malls and public places. The over-the-top villains, played by professional actors Alex Veadov and Jason Cottle, aren’t just unhinged madmen; they represent two significant fronts in America’s war to protect its homeland — the ruthless drug trade and militant Islamic terrorism — both of which, the movie constantly reminds us, are pushing right up on our borders in search of any opportunity to do Americans harm.

And that’s where our SEALs step in, dutifully leaving behind their wives and children to execute elaborately planned missions and, hopefully, make it back home safely. Most every moment before and between the missions plays like stilted filler cable TV programming, but once our heroes step onto that helicopter or surreptitious sea vessel, “Act of Valor” puts the audience into the boots and under the helmets of these elite fighters.

Before the SEALs’ now-legendary capture and killing of Osama bin Laden, followed by their recent dramatic rescue of two aid workers held captive by Somali pirates, “Act of Valor” would have likely felt like nothing more than the fantastical fabrications of a screenwriter looking to make a buck off the 18-24 male demographic. But with the news of these startling SEAL victories, the public became hungry for all the heroic details.

The timing couldn’t have been better for Waugh and McCoy, who already had the Navy’s blessing to make a film about the SEALs. While Hollywood scrambled to capitalize on the public’s interest (“The Hurt Locker” director Kathryn Bigelow is in production on a film about the bin Laden capture), the directors found themselves in an advantageous position to attract more funding and give the audience what they were hungry for — access inside the SEAL war machine and the chance to marvel at the high-tech gadgets and breathtaking maneuvers they use to infiltrate enemy camps, some of which would seem implausible if we didn’t know they were based in truth.

But “Act of Valor” is no documentary, a fact that was confirmed by several of the retired SEAL team members who spoke to the audience at a recent screening. They vouch for the bond between the men, but roll their eyes at the amount of action this particular team packs into 1 hour and 41 minutes.

It may make dramatic sense to have the same beleaguered team chase a ruthless terrorist around the globe, but having them act as investigators and enforcers gives short shrift to the nameless layers of intelligence teams who undoubtedly work night and day to gather and make sense of the chatter they pick up around the globe.

The film’s message of patriotism, honor and brotherhood may be heavy-handed — even hokey — but there’s something endearing about watching these men, who spent their military careers flying under the radar, try to communicate their motives. If actors were playing Lt. Cmdr. Rorke and Special Warfare Operator Chief Dave (their real first names; no last names given in the credits), the primary characters who share a close bond in the film, their laconic expressions of brotherhood would be almost laughable. Yet, actors would certainly have added a ridiculous Hollywood flair to these stoic characters.

The knowledge that the rigid warriors on screen are the same men who depend on each other to accomplish nearly impossible feats for their country, while trying to keep one another alive, makes the simplistic dialogue and flat performances mostly forgivable. Besides, how often do you get to see a slick, black nuclear submarine surface just long enough for a pack of SEALs on inflatable rafts to board? That alone was worth the price of admission.

Alison Gang is U-T San Diego’s movie critic. Email her at alison@alisongang.com